2012 News  

Spread the Word - PhD Scholarship in Environmental Psychology

A PhD Scholarship has been made available on the ARC Linkage Project:  ‘Zeroing in on food waste: Measuring, understanding and reducing food waste.’ We are seeking expressions of interest by November 10, 2012.
 
Tax-exempt scholarship of $28,715 per year for 3 years (standard ARC entitlement) including relocation expenses of $1,520 maximum and thesis allowance of $840

Australians waste nearly 50% of the food they buy, producing over 3 million tonnes of garbage worth more than $5b and increasing our carbon footprint through transport costs and greenhouse gases from decomposition.  Despite this significant wastage, reducing food waste has proved difficult because the reasons for over purchasing are complex; they have strong emotional and cultural determinants.  Changing this behaviour requires understanding food purchase, preparation, recycling and disposal as socio-cultural as well as economically determined behaviour.
 
This three-year project is a collaboration between Central Queensland University, The  University of South Australia, Flinders University, the Local Government Association of SA and Zero Waste SA. Studies already underway includes household ethnographies to identify the socio-cultural dimensions of food waste, an evaluation of psychological theories of behaviour change (notably the Transtheoretical model) with a view to developing guidelines and mathematical modelling (input/output analyses) of food waste in Australia.
 
We are seeking an enthusiastic team-player with interests in environmental psychology to join this multi-disciplinary research project and work with the team to design a complementary study in the areas of behaviour change and program evaluation.
 
For further information on the project or to lodge an EOI, please contact Dr Kirrilly Thompson on 0413 616 650 or Kirrilly.thompson@cqu.edu.au

The project is detailed at: http://www.cqu.edu.au/research/research-organisations/institutes/appleton-institute/research/current-projects/arc-food-waste-project

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Rail CRC Showcase

Appleton Institute Research Fellow Dr. Anjum Naweed presented to the Rail CRC showcase in Brisbane last month, on Route Knowledge and SPADs.

For more information on the CRC Showcase and other CRC events, visit the CRC website here.

 

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Honours in 2013

Tessa Benveniste is busily writing her thesis, as she approaches the end of her honours year at the Appleton Institute in 2012. We asked her for her thoughts on the year.

“This year I have had the opportunity to undertake my psychology honours year with CQUniversity supervised at the Appleton Institute in Adelaide.

For this, I consider myself extremely fortunate, as it has been a fantastic experience. As an honours student, to be surrounded by such an engaging and exciting group of researchers has honestly been inspiring. Regular seminars on-site have provided insight into the research being conducted both within and around Appleton, whilst also being a great opportunity to network (and have a bit of fun!).

The calibre and quality of supervision has contributed largely to my enjoyment of the year, as has the ongoing support and encouragement of all of the research team at Appleton. As part of my course requirements for CQUniversity, I also visited Rockhampton twice during the year, which (apart from being highly enjoyable) has provided me with strong connections and friendships with fellow students from across Australia.

In summary, I couldn’t be happier with the year I have had and would strongly recommend future honours students to consider studying here!”

Act now as submissions for 2013 are due by October 31.

For more information about potential supervisors and projects,contact Professor Drew Dawson directly at Drew.Dawson@cqu.edu.au or call 08 8378 4523. Alternatively call in to 44 Greenhill Road, Wayville and talk to us - Friday afternoons are one of the best times as we have regular research seminars followed by social networking.

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ACS Conference in Adelaide

The Australasian Chronobiology Society Conference was held at the Appleton Institute on September 14th, with speakers from all over Australasia sharing their research under this years conference theme "Clock of Ages".  This year the conference had more than 40 attendees, and as always, prizes were awarded for the best student presentations. The winner of best PhD Student presentation was Georgina Heath from the Centre for Sleep Research at UniSA, and the winner of best Honours Student presentation was Alex Forndran from the Appleton Institute, CQUni. Congratulations to both.

The Conference Proceedings will be published in the next few weeks, conference papers are due to be submitted in full this friday, 28th September.

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Seminar Series in September

The second of the Appleton Institute Seminar Series was held on Friday 7th September, with Appleton PhD students Lyn Browning, Stas Kosmadopoulos, Lily Hirsch and Michele Lastella speaking about their research.

 

 

 

 

 

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Australasian Chronobiology Society Conference 2012

The Australasian Chronobiology Society was founded in early 2004, and aims to generate and discuss research in all areas of Chronobiology, including both animal and human work to examine specific areas such as sleep and circadian biology in Australia and New Zealand.

The 9th Annual Scientific meeting of the Australasian Chronobiology Society will be held at the Appleton Institute in Adelaide, on the 14th September 2012. For more information, visit the ACS website at: http://www.australasianchronobiology.org/

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Congratulations to Dr. Xuan Zhou

Congratulations to Appleton Institute Research Fellow Dr. Xuan Zhou - who graduated from UniSA with a PhD on August 8th!

Xuan's PhD focussed on how sleep-wake patterns affect people’s performance capacity. He is primarily interested in research into the human circadian rhythm and response to external zeitgebers.

 

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Olympic Sleep Survival Guide

Dr. Sally Ferguson wrote an article this week for the Conversation, an independent source of analysis, commentary and news from the university and research sector.

As the 2012 Olympics are about to kick off in London, Sally provides some advice on how to manage your sleep while trying to watch the coverage in another time zone - without falling asleep at your desk and having to explain the glory of nigerian gold to your boss.....

Read the full article at the Conversation site here.

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Appleton Institute Seminar Series

The Appleton Institute Seminar Series kicks off next friday (3rd August) at 3pm. This will become a monthly event for the Adelaide Academic audience, followed by drinks and nibbles at 4pm.

This months speaker is Dr. Arthur Saniotis, talking about "The Use of Nootropics in the present and future."

Please RSVP for catering purposes to Jess Paterson (Jessica.Paterson@cqu.edu.au)

 

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Researching Crowd Behaviour

They say two’s company, three’s a crowd. How about three million? Imagine yourself in a crowd that’s packed so tightly you can hardly breathe, let alone move. Would you panic?

Appleton Institute Researcher and PhD student Lily Hirsch was interviewed on Radio National this week, discussing crowd behaviour on traings, and how people go about finding their own space.

For more information, and to listen to the interview online, click here. 

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Dr. Sarah Blunden on Today Tonight

Dr Sarah Blunden, the Appleton Institute specialist on paediatric sleep, was interviewed last week for the Today Tonight show - aired on channel 7 in Australia on friday night.

The feature is based on sleep treatments in infants, using Sarah's recently published book "The Sensible Sleep Solution" as an example for non-controlled crying sleep treatments. Non controlled sleep treatments are hard to find, most health professionals advocate leaving a child/baby to cry until they fall asleep. In Sarah's private practice, and in her book, she offers alternative methods to helping a baby or young child to learn to sleep alone, without having to leave them to cry unattended. 

The today tonight piece features Sarah and co-author, Angie Willcocks, as well as some mothers of young babies. Click here to watch the clip.

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Appleton Institute researcher takes out major win for simulation research

The CRC for Rail Innovation is stepping up its simulation research - as a CRC researcher based at the Appleton Institute, Dr Anjum Naweed, received a major award at the recent SimTect Conference.

Anjum, who heads up the CRC’s Route Knowledge Acquisition and Capturing Driver Strategies projects, was interviewed by Rail Express about receiving the award.

“SimTect has traditionally been a defence conference. This award is a big deal for Australia’s rail industry at large as it indicates that our industry is starting to hold its ground amongst other industries in the area of simulation research”.

Read the full article here. 

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South Australian HFESA Meeting at the Appleton Institute 

Appleton Institute Director, Professor Drew Dawson spoke at the SA branch meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society of Australia, earlier this month. Drew's presentation was a one-day seminar on Fatigue Management, covering topics such as:

• How to 'fatigue-proof' your organisation without changing the roster
• Undertaking a comprehensive fatigue risk assessment of your staff
• How sleep deprivation, fatigue, workload and shiftwork impact on OHS performance
  
• Human factors issues associated with fatigue management, error management, catastrophe avoidance
• How new technologies (e.g. SmartPhone) are automating fatigue risk management
• The implications of Shiftwork on OHS performance in the workplace
• How much sleep we need, and the relationship between sleep and obesity

You can download a pdf copy of Drew's presentation here.

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SimTecT 2012 Conference (June 2012)

Dr Anjum Naweed delivered two papers at the SimTecT 2012 conference this week, titled:

“That Train Has Already Left The Station!” - Improving The Fidelity Of A Freight Locomotive Simulator at Post-Deployment, and

Simulators In The Rail Industry: Touching The Third Rail Of Driver Training.

Anjum also received the body of knowledge award at the conference, presented to the researcher who's

conference paper best contirbutes to the development of standards, capture of best practice or contribution to the Australian Simulation community’s body of knowledge.

For more information, visit: http://www.simtect.com.au/

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New Zealand Fire Research Workshop

Associate Professor Sally Ferguson is presenting this week at the New Zealand Fire Research Workshop in Rotorua. Her presentation is titled: The fighting without the fire: Simulating campaign bushfire suppression activities for research and training. Sally is currently leading a Bushfire CRC project to investigate the operational readiness of volunteer firefighters.

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Rail Safety Management Courses open for Enrolment

The Appleton Institute is about to begin two new teaching programs which are open for mid-year entry. The Masters and GRaduate Diploma courses in Master of Rail Safety Management are postgraduate programs which aim to develop a sophisticated set of skills and knowledge that provides the basis for leadership in rail safety management. The courses are run by distance education and provide a mixture of staff guided online-learning and face-to-face interactions. Students in the program learn about human factors, occupational hygiene, safety management, risk management, rail regulation and legislation. At the Masters stage, students conduct research projects under the guidance of one of the research staff at the university. The Graduate Diploma aims to develop a comprehensive set of skills and knowledge relating to rail safety management. Students in the program learn about human factors, occupational hygiene, safety management, risk management, rail regulation and legislation, but do not continue on to the research project stage.

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Horse & Climates Impact Workshop

Appleton Institute Researcher, Dr. Kirrilly Thompson will be speaking next week at the Horse & Climates Impact Workshop at the Adelaide Showgrounds (Thursday 14th June 0930-1630). The workshop will cover emerging issues in the Horse industry, discussing topics in the context of climate change. It is open to horse owners, Natural Resources Management Officers, Local, State & Federal Government representatives in the fields of Climate Change, NRM, environment, water & sustainable farming; Researchers & educators who have a strong horse industry-science interface.

For more information, visit: http://horse.org.au/2011/12/horses-climate-impacts-workshop/

 

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Legislative Council Speech

The Hon John Darley gave a speech to the legislative council on 30th May regarding the Appleton Institute. The independent politician spoke under matters of interest, giving an overview of the Appleton Institute mission, to foster an Australia-wide network of specialists who can provded practical and innovative solutions to complex problems.

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New Book on Baby Sleep

Dr. Sarah Blunden

One of the Appleton Institute researchers, Dr Sarah Blunden has just published her new book The Sensible Sleep Solution: a guide to your baby's sleep in the first year, which she co-authored with Angie Willcocks.

The new book, published by Wakefield Press, was launched on April 19th by Amanda Blair, an Adelaide media personality and mother of four, at the Mary Martin Bookshop in Norwood, Adelaide.

Sarah is a Senior Research Fellow who heads Paediatric Sleep Research at CQUniversity's new Appleton Institute in Adelaide.

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Report Released on Social Impacts of Inverbrackie Detention Centre

Dr. Danielle Every, Dr. Sophie Rainbird & Dr. Kirrilly Thompson

Three of the Appleton Institute researchers were involved in developing a recent report for the Department of Immigration and Citizenship. The report titled The Social Impacts of the Inverbrackie alternative place of detention on woodside and surrounds, was released on Thursday 19th April 2012, and can be downloaded at:

http://www.immi.gov.au/media/publications/research/_pdf/social-impacts-of-inverbrackie-alternative-place-of-detention-on-woodside-and-surrounds.pdf

 
Following the release of the report, Dr Every has given several Media Interviews to discuss her work, including the specific topic of the report as well as the current experience of racism in Australia. Click on the links below for more information.

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/inverbrackie-detention-centre-a-38m-boost/story-e6frea6u-1226332114295

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/opinion/editorial-an-aussie-welcome-at-inverbrackie/story-e6freabl-1226332168187

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/8453855/inverbrackie-good-for-adelaide-town-bowen

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Sealy Sleep Census

CQUniversity has joined with bed maker Sealy to launch Australia's biggest-ever study into the sleeping habits of the nation.

The nationally-focused 'Sleep Census' was aimed at comprehensively painting a picture of exactly how well Australians are sleeping, and what impact environmental and cultural factors are having on our collective sleep wellness. The census is the most in-depth study of its kind ever undertaken in Australia.

The Census forms part of Sealy's ongoing commitment to research and innovation in the sleep arena, and has been developed jointly with Professor Drew Dawson, head of CQUniversity's Appleton Institute, Australia's leading academic research base for sleep, shiftwork and human factors.

Professor Dawson commented that "healthy sleep habits are directly linked to wellbeing in your waking life and we know that a poor sleep routine can impact on all kinds of health factors, causing significant detriment to your physical and mental wellbeing".

"The importance of getting good, healthy sleep therefore cannot be understated, and this Census will give us valuable insight not only into sleeping habits of Australians, but also insight into how stressed, happy and balanced we are as a nation during our waking hours. It will therefore be of significant statistical and academic merit."

Sealy spokesperson Ross Gage also commented that "we are committed to innovation and research in all fields of sleep, and the Sleep Census is the natural progression of this. The involvement of CQUniversity is a real coup for us and adds significant academic weight to the study and will ensure we get insightful, scientific findings". 

For more information, and to download a copy of the Sealy Sleep Census report, visit: http://www.sealysleepcensus.com.au/

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University ECR Program

The new CQUniversity Early Career Research program was launched on the 20th April 2012, bringing together a group of scientists and mentors from several campuses around Australia.

The ECR program is hosted by CQUniversity in association with the new Regional Universities Network (RUN), and this is the first time a network of universities has collaborated on such an ambitious ECR Program.

As well as the first workshop which was held in Rockhampton, others are planned for Mackay, Bundaberg, Gladstone and Noosa, and five of the RUN partner institutions are represented. The program is led by Professor Drew Dawson, the inaugural Engaged Research Chair at CQUniversity, and Director of the new Appleton Institute in Adelaide.

The first session in Rockhampton saw Professor Alan Pettigrew as keynote speaker. Professor Pettigrew is the inaugural CEO of the NHMRC (National Health and Medical Research Council), and former Vice Chancellor of the University of New England. Other speakers included Professor Scott Bowman, Vice-Chancellor, CQUniversity; Professor Chad Hewitt, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research) CQUniversity; and Dr Caroline Perkins, Executive Director, Regional Universities Network.

Professor Dawson said this is the first time an ECR program of this type and magnitude has been offered by a regional university in Australia across so many campuses such long distances apart.

“This is the first significant collaboration for RUN and the most ambitious project of its type for regional universities,” Professor Dawson said.

Participants represent a range of fields including coral regeneration, health care, skilled migration, population health, cognitive psychology, online learning, microbiology, plant ecology, intercultural and international education, and sleep loss and fatigue.

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Ergonomics & Human Factors (EHF) Conference 2012  

Dr Anjum Naweed

Dr Anjum Naweed, one of the new Appleton Institute academic staff, has presented two papers at the Ergonomics and Human Factors conference in Blackpool, UK.

1. Naweed, A, Balakrishnan, G., Bearman, C., Dorrian, J., & Dawson, D. (2012). Scaling generative scaffolds towards train driving expertise. Contemporary Ergonomics and Human Factors 2012, Taylor & Francis.

2. Naweed, A, Balakrishnan, G., Bearman, C., Dorrian, J., & Dawson, D. (2012). Deconstructing the design & disposition of the psychological railway. Contemporary Ergonomics and Human Factors 2012, Taylor & Francis.

For more information, visit: http://www.ehf2012.org.uk/ 

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RailAus online article

Dr Anjum Naweed

Dr Anjum Naweed has recently published (March 2012) an article in RailAus online.

http://www.railaus.com/2012/03/27/train-driving-where-the-metal-meets-the-rail/

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